Clarity Matrix Video Wall Provides Entertainment and Advertising Platform in New Multi-use Office, Retail and Lodging Complex
The East Bronx area of New York City is in the midst of rapid development that is being paced by commercial properties such as the Hutchinson Metro Center Complex, a mixed-use campus on the Hutchinson River Parkway. Planar, along with system integration and digital media design and development partners, is meeting the need for advanced communication technology in the new complex, providing a large-scale video wall for the lobby that helps attract new tenants, provides an entertainment source in the building's common space, as well as an advertising platform for the developer, commercial tenants in the building and nearby businesses.
The video wall, a four-by-four (4x4) array of Planar's Clarity™ Matrix LCD Video Wall System is installed on a prominent wall on the first floor of the complex's Atrium Building, a 13,000 square-foot space that is open to visitors, tenants and their customers. "This is an important amenity for the Atrium Building and the complex as a whole," says Joseph Deglomini, Jr., Principal of Simone Development Companies, which built, owns and manages the Hutchinson Metro Center campus as well as other office, retail, industrial and residential properties in the New York tri-state area. "The Planar video wall is big and bright and perfect for showing sports and news programming and for promoting many things going on in the complex. So it encourages people to gather, relax during lunch or after work, and to learn about and take advantage of services and products available from the many retailers and businesses on campus." Among these tenants, he said, are the new Residence Inn by Marriott, LA Fitness and Dunkin Donuts. Others include a child-care facility, a café, a full-service bank branch, a dry cleaning service and a teleconference center.
The selection of Clarity Matrix was a collaborative effort, involving Simone Development Companies, Big Apple Technologies, other technology companies and AV Design and Integration, a leading audio-visual installation and integration firm in the New York area. This team researched a variety of available video walls and chose the Clarity Matrix MX46HDS after seeing it at industry trade shows and testing it at AV Design and Integration's facility in Elmsford, New York.
Image quality is a stand-out factor
"The deciding factor for all of us was its image quality," says Michael Demello, President of AV Design and Integration. "In particular, the fact that it is brighter than any other video wall we considered. This is critical because the video wall was to be installed in a brightly lit space in the Atrium Building and it needed to stand out under high sunlight and internal lighting conditions." Clarity Matrix features an ambient light sensor, which increases or decreases the display's backlight depending on the level of brightness (which can be up to 800 nits) in the room. Each Clarity Matrix displays features 1920 x 1080 resolution, 3500:1 contrast ratio and 10-bit color processing.
Display flexibility also factored into the selection decision. As an attraction and entertainment platform for different users, Simone liked the fact that Clarity Matrix could be used to show different content in various areas of the video wall or across the video wall entirely. Clarity Matrix accommodates and simplifies this with built-in Big Picture Plus™ Processing feature. "Also, the user wanted additional flexibility to display 'favorites' such as TV news or sports programming. Clarity Matrix is engineered with 40 recallable presets that each store input and layout settings and color levels, making it easy to switch between various configurations," says Demello.
Additional features contribute to best-in-class stature
Other important features include Clarity Matrix's off-board electronics design, which houses power supplies and other components in a remote rack room (up to 500 feet away), thus keeping heat-inducing elements away from the video wall, facilitating remote troubleshooting and easy software installation and updating, and giving Clarity Matrix its industry-leading profile (sub four-inch total mounted depth). Also, Clarity Matrix is installed on Planar's EasyAxis™ Mounting System, a unique system that offers a number of benefits. Among these are built-in, multi-axis cams that facilitate quick and precise alignment of all video wall displays; built-in cable routing; and a service mode feature that allows any display to be tilted out and removed for service or replacement without the entire video wall having to be powered down and dismantled.
"Our view is that Clarity Matrix is a best-in-class video wall in many aspects," says Simone Development's Deglomini. "Although we are just beginning to capitalize on its capabilities, we can see that Clarity Matrix is visually superior to other video walls; it looks amazing even in our bright-lit atrium space; and it will perform at a high level on a 24/7 basis for years to come."
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
